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The breakfastIt is now known that it is one of the three most important meals of the day: it helps to reactivate our body after a prolonged night fast and provides the body with the energy it needs to restart. For those who practice sports in the morning, consuming the right foods upon waking up is even more important: but what should an athlete’s breakfast be like?
Generally, breakfast is for all athletes – high level athletes or simple amateur practitioners – a fundamental meal, since – especially in view of having to face the psycho-physical commitments of the early morning (training or competition) – it is necessary to guarantee the body a sufficient supply of energy obtained through the right food choices.
But breakfast not only favors sports performance: cross-sectional studies show that it is associated with better cardio-metabolic parameters and better cognitive performance [Documento elaborato dalla Società Italiana di Nutrizione Umana (SINU) e dalla Società Italiana di Scienze dell’Alimentazione (SISA), 2018]. Excellent news for 9 out of 10 Italians (88%) who, according to a research by the Doxa / Unionfood Observatory, do not give up on the first meal of the morning.
On the occasion of the Tokyo Olympics, “I start well” – the Unione Italiana Food campaign which for several years has been promoting the value of this meal in Italy – with the advice ofsports nutrition expert, Professor Michelangelo Giampietro, reaffirms its importance through a vademecum of guidelines dedicated to the breakfast of the professional and amateur athlete
The ideal breakfast
As pointed out by prof. Michelangelo Giampietro: “The sportsman’s breakfast, as well as that of the general population, should be as complete as possible. As for liquids, in addition to water, all drinks – from tea, fruit juice, centrifuged, milk, coffee, barley – are fine.
To obtain good hydration it is important to take a generous amount of fluids (2-2.5 liters per day), to be sipped and not to be concentrated in large quantities a few times during the day. The drinks can be either hot or cold, depending on the taste and the seasonal temperatures. In addition, fresh fruit and yogurt for breakfast also provide good amounts of fluids. As for the solid component, however, it must be varied, meeting everyone’s tastes “.
So what is best to bring to the table for the athlete in the morning? The typical sweet breakfast “Italian style” is an excellent solution, being able to alternate drinks such as barley, coffee, tea, milk, yogurt, juices, fruit juices, but also cereal-based products (bread, biscuits, rusks, wholemeal cereal flakes or not, muesli, packaged or homemade baked desserts with low fat), spreads and sweets and fresh seasonal fruit.
If, on the other hand, you opt for a savory breakfast, green light for the right mix of cold cuts (defatted raw ham or bresaola or turkey breast), eggs and low-fat cheeses or ricotta, not forgetting the correct weekly consumption frequencies, but without giving up seasonal fruit or fruit juice, a glass of milk or, alternatively, a yogurt with cereals.
For both menus, milk is a drink not to be underestimated. Being mainly made of water, it is a precious source of liquids, able to hydrate the body very well, not only for those who play sports. In milk there are also sugars and proteins, even in the skimmed version, which mutually help each other to favor the anabolic processes that are so important, especially in the immediate post-workout / competition.
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